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Iraq's New Dinar

Aired January 15, 2004 - 13:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: For decades, Saddam Hussein's face was everywhere in Iraq. But since his fall from power, that has all changed. The latest evidence, Iraq's new money.
Senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar is in Baghdad to tell us more about that -- Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Saddam may have been captured in April -- rather deposed in April and captured in December, but the people of Iraq have been walking around with his picture in their pockets for months. All that is about to change. Today is the last day where the Saddam dinar -- that's the name of the Iraqi currency -- will have any value. It is being replaced with the new Saddam-less currency.

In order to carry this out, the Coalition Authority, working with the Iraqis, has pulled in literally billions of Iraqi dinars. Now one of the problems with the old Iraqi dinar was that it was really easy to copy, even using a photocopy machine. A lot of those dinars they have in were, in fact, counterfeit. At any rate, they have bundled them all up together. They have replaced them on the streets with the new Saddam-less dinar.

And in listening to what people had to say today, talking to them about this new -- yet another symbol of the end of Saddam's regime, how they felt about that, how they felt about their future, people were very optimistic. They said that it was a good thing, that they thought that Saddam was gone, that one more element of his regime was gone. It was also something they said they could look forward to. It made them look towards the future, to ask questions about, will they have stability, will they have security? And most importantly, perhaps, will their money hold its value? That is what is on people's minds here today -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Sheila, important symbolism, obviously, given all that you just said. But it must cost a lot of money to print all the money. Do we know what the price tag is for all of is?

MACVICAR: It did indeed cost a lot of money to print all the money. The money has been printed in Great Britain, has been flown into Iraq in quite an amazing operation, and then sent out across the country. We were told today that it involved 500 Arabic-speaking soldiers from Fiji, if you can believe that, who were part of those convoys that drove that money all over the countryside. A couple of occasions, they came into firefights. The price tag, of course, millions and millions of dollars. But that was the price of removing one of the last symbols of Saddam's regime. O'BRIEN: Sheila MacVicar, I assume the cost was in dollars, not dinars. Anyway, thank you very much. Appreciate it, live from Baghdad.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 15, 2004 - 13:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: For decades, Saddam Hussein's face was everywhere in Iraq. But since his fall from power, that has all changed. The latest evidence, Iraq's new money.
Senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar is in Baghdad to tell us more about that -- Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Saddam may have been captured in April -- rather deposed in April and captured in December, but the people of Iraq have been walking around with his picture in their pockets for months. All that is about to change. Today is the last day where the Saddam dinar -- that's the name of the Iraqi currency -- will have any value. It is being replaced with the new Saddam-less currency.

In order to carry this out, the Coalition Authority, working with the Iraqis, has pulled in literally billions of Iraqi dinars. Now one of the problems with the old Iraqi dinar was that it was really easy to copy, even using a photocopy machine. A lot of those dinars they have in were, in fact, counterfeit. At any rate, they have bundled them all up together. They have replaced them on the streets with the new Saddam-less dinar.

And in listening to what people had to say today, talking to them about this new -- yet another symbol of the end of Saddam's regime, how they felt about that, how they felt about their future, people were very optimistic. They said that it was a good thing, that they thought that Saddam was gone, that one more element of his regime was gone. It was also something they said they could look forward to. It made them look towards the future, to ask questions about, will they have stability, will they have security? And most importantly, perhaps, will their money hold its value? That is what is on people's minds here today -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Sheila, important symbolism, obviously, given all that you just said. But it must cost a lot of money to print all the money. Do we know what the price tag is for all of is?

MACVICAR: It did indeed cost a lot of money to print all the money. The money has been printed in Great Britain, has been flown into Iraq in quite an amazing operation, and then sent out across the country. We were told today that it involved 500 Arabic-speaking soldiers from Fiji, if you can believe that, who were part of those convoys that drove that money all over the countryside. A couple of occasions, they came into firefights. The price tag, of course, millions and millions of dollars. But that was the price of removing one of the last symbols of Saddam's regime. O'BRIEN: Sheila MacVicar, I assume the cost was in dollars, not dinars. Anyway, thank you very much. Appreciate it, live from Baghdad.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com